Run Boy Run
by SodaDrow
Summary: While the Military is fighting hard to evacuate as many people north as possible, a small group of survivors stumble upon a girl who was separated from her convoy. Now the survivors have to make their way through the west coast to find the child's parents, while fighting off walkers, bandits, and a gang of sadistic cultists. M for gore, drugs, sex, and a bunch of other stuff.


_Bang!_

The deer bolted away, scattering leaves and twigs everywhere as it disappeared in the brush.

"Fuckin' shit!" Dimitri spat, as he pulled the rifle's bolt back. He stood up from a crouch, eying the piece of brush that the deer had jumped into.

"Ruskie! Did you get it?"

He turned around, and gave his hunting partner a look as she ran up to him from the forest. She was holding a scoped Remington hunting rifle in her hands, and she had four good sized squirrels hanging from a loop on her belt.

Jess nudged him with her shoulder, "Did you get it?" She asked, peering around the forest. "Please tell me you got the whatever it was that made you forget to check the snares."

Dimitri fished out some rifle rounds from his jacket and started reloading his Mosin Nagant. "No, I didn't. I missed the shot." He finished loading and started jogging in the direction the deer went. "C'mon it can't be far."

Jess kept pace with him as the duo trotted through the red wood forest. Dimitri moved with careful steps and often stopped to listen and to find more deer tracks. He kept his rifle at the ready, bringing it to his shoulder every time he heard a noise.

Jess's movements were more energy conservative, and she kept her pace easily, jumping on top of fallen logs and rocks to speed her progress.

"What was it anyway? A turkey?" She asked, pulling her denim jacket closer to her body. The days have steady gotten colder and foggier as winter started taking it's hold.

"It was a deer, probably about two years old or so. It had some antlers on it." Dimitri replied.

She jumped down from the log she was balancing on. "So a buck? Male deer are called bucks."

"Yeah, a buck. Man, I can almost smell the venison cooking now..."

"Hold on there, Russian. We gotta kill it first." Jess giggled, "Besides Tori would strangle us both if we don't bring her some."

They kept going, the forest slowly became less and less dense, and the constant bushes and nettles gave way to flat ground. The pair had shifted into combat mode. Their pace had slowed and they had their rifles shouldered and ready to fire. The friendly banter had ceased, and the only sound in the forest was the leaves being crunched under their boots.

They were getting closer to the city and cities mean danger. Walkers, bandits, and feral dogs all stalked the streets and alleys, preying on the weak and the unaware. They weren't equipped for city fighting, their rifles were to long and unwieldy to be much use indoors. Their cloths, denim and camouflaged military wear, were cross-crossed with floral tape and clumps of grass for concealment, stuck out in the grays and reds of the city.

"Maybe we should turn back." Dimitri said, his voice breaking the silence. "We're a few miles away from the city."

Jess was about to agree but was cut off as a scream echoed through the woods.

The pair dropped into a crouch, eyes searching for danger.

"We're going back. _Now_." Dimitri said, starting to back the way they had come.

The scream echoed again, high-pitched and terrified, and little bit farther away.

Jess started to run towards the scream but Dimitri grabbed the back of her jacket, holding her back.

"Whata you doing?!" He growled, "We gotta bail!"

Jess pulled away from his grasp, "Someone's in trouble, Ruskie! We have to help!" She picked up her pace, rifle in hand.

"We won't survive if we try to save everybody!" He yelled to her retreating form. "Jess? Jess! COME BACK!"

Dimitri stopped yelling as soon as he realized that his shouting was gonna attract more attention. Jess turned around and motioned him to follow her. Groaning inwardly he had no choice but to follow.

* * *

><p><em>A quick sprint through the woods later...<em>

Dimitri kicked out at the walker in front of him, his boot crushed the thing's knee. The walker slammed into the ground, it continued to snap and swing at him. Dimitri easily pinned the rotting, cannibalistic corpse to the ground by stepping on it's throat. The walker's esophagus filled with white vomit and undigested bits of flesh, slowly oozing out of the it's mouth and spilling out into it's half-rotted face.

"Gross." Dimitri sneered, as he drove his bayonet through it's skull. The thing expired and he drew the blade out.

Jess finished off her walker with a quick thrust through it's eye with her combat knife. She flicked the blood off the blade and sheathed it.

Dimitri turned to look at her, "You're getting better." He said, locking the bayonet back into place. "A little more practice and you'll be droppin' walkers all over the place."

Jess ignored him as she scanned the area for walkers. About thirty meters away, a group of at least two dozen walkers were trying to break into a house. The stupid rotters were slowly pushing down the door to the house, while a few stragglers stumbled around the driveway. The surrounding forest was too sparse to allow a stealthy approach.

"Hey, Ruskie." She said, pointing to the herd. "Wonder what got them so pissed off?"

"Don't know, don't care." He replied, not looking up from his looting of the walker.

Jess unslung her rifle and peered through the scope. She guided the reticule over each entrance and window of the house, searching for movement. The front door was literally swamped with walkers, while most of the windows were boarded up.

"We should head back now." Dimitri stated, as he unwrapped a recently claimed candy bar.

"Please tell me you didn't get that from that slimy corpse." She said, giving the damp looking wrapper a suspicious look.

Dimitri grinned and bit off half the bar before offering the rest to her.

"You are the grossest person alive, you know that?" She said, as she focused on the windows again.

He chuckled before pocketing the rest of the bar. "Can we leave now?"

Suddenly she saw a face through the window. A small, scared face framed with long, filthy brown hair.

The figure appeared to be trying to pull some of the boards off to escape.

"Someone's inside!" She cheered, overjoyed that they weren't too late.

Dimitri let out a groan. "You want us to go save whoever is in there, don't you?"

Jess nudged him as she walked by "You know me so well."

She ran forward silently before taking cover behind a large pine tree. Jess cradled her rifle in one arm as she leaned forward to observe the stragglers. Two of the three stragglers were once women, each of them were small in size but fresh. The third walker was almost completely burnt to a crisp, his entire body was covered in ash and hardened skin.

Jess looked back and saw that Dimitri was lying on his stomach and was using one of the corpses as a rest for his rifle. Jess motioned for him to move up next to her.

He raised himself to a crouch before sprinting to her tree. Before she could open her mouth to speak he had dropped down to his belly again and had the burnt walker in his sights.

"A little militant are we?" She whispered to him, a small smile on her face "You don't have to be so paranoid. If this was a trap some sniper would have shot us by now."

"They may not have a scoped rifle, the closer we get the more the risk of gunshot increases."

Jess shrugged, then crouched down next to him and readied her rifle. "We gotta get rid of those three." She whispered, pointing to the outlying walkers. "Any ideas how to put them down without the herd swarming us?"

"I'll take the burnt bastard. You get rid of the those two." He said, as he pulled out a muti-tool out of his pocket and unscrewed the scope on his rifle.

Jess flicked the safety back on her rifle and carefully leaned it on the tree. "What do we do about the herd in front?"

Dimitri snapped his bayonet open and pulled his flektarn bandana over his mouth and nose. "I'll deal with that, you focus on not getting bit."

Jess pulled her knife out of her sheath then whistled shrilly at the stragglers, all three of them suddenly turned to face her. Dimitri was hidden behind a tree, about ten feet away from the burnt walker.

She whistled again and the walkers stumbled toward her, the two female ones were able to gain some speed as they closed in on her. Jess stepped out of tree and kicked the leading female, a brunette missing her left eye, in the chest. One-eye stumbled back and tripped onto the ground. Before Jess could finish One-eye off, the second walker, this one wearing a hideous Christmas sweater, lunged at her with broken hands.

"Fuck!" Jess swore. She dodged away and sliced at it's face. The knife hit bone and scraped through the walkers face, causing most of it's face to slid off and dangle like a macabre scarf.

Jess recoiled from the sight but managed to push it away. The walker slipped on a tree root and fell on top of One-eye, knocking both of them down. Jess capitalized on the opportunity and stabbed One-eye through it's empty socket, then pulled the blade out and slammed it into the others temple.

"Hah! Got ya, butt biscuits!" She cheered quietly.

Across the driveway, Dimitri thrust his bayonet into the crispy walker's skull, spearing it's brain. The walker waved it's hands uselessly at him as Dimitri twisted his weapon out of it's ashen head.

The duo looked at each other, then Dimitri motioned for Jess to hide behind something. She ran forward and pressed herself tightly against the garage door, while Dimitri ran past her and pulled something out of his satchel.

Jess suddenly realized what he was about to do just as he pulled the pin out of a homemade grenade.

She crouched down and covered her ears, counting quietly down from ten. Right as she hit four she was thrown to the ground as a thunderclap sounded throughout the hills. Jess lay on her stomach for a moment as the her vision spun and a loud ringing sounded in her ears. The air stank of burning hair and a sharp chemical odor. She slowly picked herself up off the concrete and called out: "Ruskie! Are you alive?!"

Dimitri was very much alive, he had lobbed the explosive into the center of the herd. Most of the shrapnel went into the walkers but the shock wave had done a fine job of knocking both him and the door down. He retrieved his Mosin and examined his handiwork.

The walkers that had been caught in the shrapnel were turned to instant, bloody spam; while the others had their limbs and heads torn off. In front of him now was a open doorway blocked by a carpet of thrashing, moaning, and biting body parts.

Jess saw him and stumbled over to him, her vision had cleared but her sense of balance and hearing were still lacking. Dimitri reached out and steadied her.

"You OK, Jess?" He asked, thankful that his bandana hid his smile.

She noticed that he was more or less steady on his feet. "Why aren't you falling' over?" She asked, a little too loudly.

In response he pulled out two pieces of cotton out of his ears, "Ear plugs." He said.

Together the pair stabbed their way across the biting, bloody heads. Jess was quickly regaining her sense of balance and she pulled ahead to the destroyed front door.

"Hello!" She called into the house, "Hello, we are NOT gonna hurt you! We're here to help!"

No answer.

Dimitri went in first, Glock 23 at the ready and his rifle slung across his shoulder. Jess followed him with her M9 in hand. The combination of poor hearing and the stench of burned meat made her sick, and she suddenly felt envious of Dimitri's bandana.

They walked down the hallway, ready to fire on any threat. They passed several doors that were torn open. The duo cleared every room, and found nothing but smashed furniture and dead rats. Soon only one door remained at the end of the hallway, and a quick twist of knob reveled that it was locked.

"Door's locked, someones gotta be in there." He reported.

Jess looked excited, almost giddy. And the hearing loss had faded away, "I know; hurry and pick the lock!" She said, watching the exit for walkers.

He turned to her. "And what makes you think I know how to pick locks?"

"Because of your...um...background?" She shrugged.

Dimitri let out an exasperated sigh, then turned and delivered a swift kick into the door's lock. The door fell open with a hail of splinters.

"Lock's picked." He stated, then raised his pistol and walked into the room. A second later he called out, "Clear!"

Jess jogged past him, eyes darting around the room. Right in front of her was a pink bunk bed, the blankets thrown off and trampled on. Bloodstains covered the bottom bunk, almost concealing the Disney princess covers. The walls were covered in pictures of two little girls, about ten or eleven years old, playing on swings or holding junior soccer trophies. The rest of the room was filled with two desks, a few dressers, and a trophy shelf.

Dimitri started checking the room for salvage, dispassionately tossing the unwanted things into the middle of the room and collecting anything useful or interesting into his satchel. Jess watched as he picked up a large piggy bank that resembled Yogi Bear, shook it and then crushed it under his boot.

"Why did you do that?" She asked.

In response he kneeled down and started picking coins out of it. "I wanted these. Nails are too valuable to put in bombs. Coins tear under pressure, so they make good shrapnel." He explained.

She glared at him then reminded him about their mission. "We're here to help people, not to make roadside bombs. You could at least _pretend_ to care about other people."

He shrugged and continued looting.

* * *

><p><em>A few minutes earlier<em>

Alice was terrified.

The smelly, dead people were scary. They reminded her of the monsters that used to live under her bed, the ones that would grab and eat her if she got out of bed after ten. Her mom told her that monsters don't exist. That nothing would come out of the dark and eat her. But her mom was wrong, monsters did exist, they were everywhere and the grown-ups couldn't get rid of them fast enough.

She had tried to be careful, she really did. But she was so hungry all the time and her new home ran out of food. A few hours before she walked down the road to a neighbor's house. Their front door was open and she had invited herself in (remembering to wipe her shoes before going inside), and went straight to the pantry. She found nothing but a can of ravioli and she was about to leave she almost walked into one of the smelly, dead grown-ups.

Long story short she escaped by climbing out a window, which tripped it's burglar alarm and attracted a lot more dead grown-ups. Which then surrounded her new home, She thought she'd be eaten for sure. She tried to escape through the back window, but she didn't have enough strength to pull the boards off.

Then the world exploded. She fell to the ground and curled in a small ball as the explosion rocked the foundations of her home.

She stayed on the floor, shaking and almost hyperventilating, until she heard footsteps in the corridor.

Thinking it was the dead grown-ups coming to get her, she crawled under the bed and hoped that they couldn't get through the door.

She almost screamed as the door flew open and someone walked in. All she could see was his boots, and a second later someone said "Clear." and another pair of boots appeared in her vision.

Alice crawled away, deeper under the bed until she was pressed up against the wall. Her mom had always told her not to talk to strangers.

She watched the smaller stranger walk in front of her hiding place. Alice could make out all of the bloodstains and gore on it's boots.

_Crash!_

"Why did you do that?!" A feminine voice cried out. The small stranger was a girl! Alice felt a little less scared and inched forward hoping to catch a glimpse of the strangers. Maybe they would be nice?

The other stranger was a boy, she could tell by his voice but she couldn't see him anywhere yet.

Alice was almost to the edge of the bed when the girl walked away from the bed to examine the trophies, giving Alice a clear view of her. She was small for a stranger and thin too, her blonde hair was tied back and almost covered with a camouflaged baseball cap. She wore a baggy pair of olive cargo pants and a jean jacket criss-crossed with camo tape, with four dead squirrels hanging from her belt. When she turned to look at a different trophy, Alice could she had blue eyes and a huge, goofy smile on her face.

'She looks nice.' Alice thought, considering asking her for help or at least some food.

"Looks like this place is empty, Jess." The boy voice said. "Someone has trashed this place already."

"Jess" turned toward the other stranger and held up a small, gold metal. "Check it out, they have a state championship medal!" She said, goofy smile still on her face. "I used to have on of these too, but I lost it when I was at a friends house."

"Then take it, then." The second stranger strode into view and Alice hid herself a little deeper.

This one was taller then "Jess", and much broader of shoulder then her too. He wore a grubby, military jacket and an even more ragged pair of jeans. A large satchel was strapped to his back, next to a really long gun. She couldn't see his eyes because of the brownish hood and most of his face was concealed by a weird bandana. Unlike everybody else in the room, he looked almost relaxed.

"We should be getting back, Tori will be worried if we are gone too long." The boy stranger said.

*Who's Tori? Is she their mom?* Alice wondered. Her dad had a parrot named Trojan a long time ago.

The girl stranger sighed and was about to agree when she noticed that there were muddy, child-sized foot prints leading to the bed. Her gaze continued until it locked on to Alice's terrified eyes.

Alice squeaked and tried to crawl out from under the bed and make a break for the door, but Jess was faster. She made it to the door first and closed it before Alice could escape, and before she could reassure the scared, little girl, Alice had turned on her heel and ran face first into the other stranger.

She fell onto her bottom and stared up at the armed stranger towering over her.

Jess kneeled down behind the girl and gently touched her shoulder. The little girl flinched and covered her eyes with her hands, ready for the strangers to steal her away.

"It's OK, daring. We aren't going to hurt you." Jess said, in soft, motherly voice. "What's your name?"

The girl started to hyperventilate, her tiny chest rapidly raising and falling like a hummingbird. Dimitri looked on in interest, slightly intrigued by the events.

"Shh, it's OK. Everything will be OK." Jess comforted, moving the child's mousy hair out of her face. "Just breathe and relax. In and out, just breathe dear."

"Ruskie," She said, looking up at him "Can you find a clean blanket? It's cold in here." The child was wearing a t-shirt and jeans and Jess could feel the kid shake incessantly.

Dimitri left the room and started searching the nearby rooms for anything remotely warm.

Jess sat down next to her and pulled a water canteen off her belt. "Do want some water?" She asked, holding out her canteen to the girl.

Alice breathed deeply and accepted the canteen from Jess. She took a gulp of water and marveled how well the cool water moisturized her dry mouth. "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers, but you seem OK."

"Yeah, I'm OK." Jess smiled, as the child drank from the canteen, "What's your name, hon?"

"Alice." The girl said, sipping from the canteen again, "I know your name, it's Jess."

"That's right," Jess laughed, then examined Alice, "Where are your parents? Are you staying with anyone?"

Alice shook her head, "No, my family was on vacation. And then the angry dead people started walking and we had to live in an army base for like, ever!"

Jess nodded, "So you lived in a camp? How'd you get all the way to the bay area?" The last of the old refugee camps were in the south.

"A bunch of army men drove us." A convoy, probably to one heading to a newer camp.

"When did you last see your mom, Alice?"

Alice thought hard, "A few days ago, I think. I remember my dad saying that we were going to Oregon."

"There's a refugee camp up there." Dimitri said from the doorway. "Military set it up a few months ago."

Alice gulped and looked at him with wide eyes. Jess noticed and quickly explained, "Don't worry, Alice. That's Ruskie and he's my friend. He's very nice."

She turned her head to glare at him, "Aren't you?"

He held his hands out in placating gesture, then remembered that he still had his sidearm in his hand. He hastily slipped it back into it's holster. "I promise I won't be a jerk."

Jess turned back to Alice and smiled her best "Everything is under control" smile. "See?"

Alice calmed down and continued drinking from the canteen.

"By the way, I didn't find a blanket but I did find these." Dimitri said, holding up a sweatshirt that was obviously way too big for Alice. "It looks warm enough to me, what do you think, Jess?"

Jess held out her hands and Dimitri tossed the sweatshirt into them. She gave the garment a quick once-over to make sure it wasn't infested with insects (A common problem nowadays), then helped slip it over Alice's head.

"There you go, you're gonna be warm now!" Jess said, trying to hold in her giggles. The girl now more closely resembled a penguin then a 10-year old. The sweatshirt went down to her knees, and her arms were lost in the sleeves.

Alice looked at her new blanket/sweatshirt with some suspicion, "I don't think it fits me really well."

"No! It fits you perfectly, loose clothing is in fashion now anyway." Jess promised, then looked up at her companion. "We should head back."

Dimitri nodded, then gave Alice a pointed look, "What do we do with her?"

Jess stood up and motioned for Alice to follow her, the girl hesitated for a moment then stood up and latched onto Jess's hand.

"It's getting dark outside, so I think Alice could sleep over at our place for the night, then we're going to go find her parents." Jess said.

Alice's face burst into a huge grin at the same moment Dimitri's eyes widened with surprise. He was about to open his mouth to protest or spew a counter-point but he was never had a chance as Alice started squealing loud enough to wake the dead. Literally.

* * *

><p><em>On the way home...<em>

"Why did you tell her that we'll find her parents?" Dimitri asked, giving his companion a sideways glance, "If her parents are heading to the refugee camp, then they'd only get through if they were part of a military convoy. And we know those are on a strict schedule, her families probably long gone by now."

Jess glared at her friend, hoping that his pessimism would subside. Dimitri had always been a firm believe that not only was the glass half full, it was also poisoned as well.

When the outbreak hit, he had been suspicious of the military's promise to keep civilians safe and he had been correct. The military set up checkpoints and camps to help the evacuation of major cities but one by the one each outpost had been overrun. Months later, Jess heard that the last camps were being relocated to Oregon and Washington via convoys. She had wanted to go but Tori and Dimitri gave a torrent of reasons of why that would be a suicide mission.

"You really think that her parents would just abandon her like this? Their own kid?" She whispered, making sure that Alice wasn't in earshot.

Dimitri frowned (he had removed his bandana as soon as Jess reminded him that he wouldn't be able to eat the other half of his candy bar with it on.) He seemed to think for a bit, then called out to Alice: "Hey, Tiny Child! Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"I have two older brothers!" Alice replied, then hesitated "The older one is a jerk though."

Dimitri nodded, and action exaggerated by the loose hood still covering his head, then slowed his gait.

Jess, curious why he would slow down when they were so close to home, matched his speed.

"Her family's gone." He stated.

Jess held back her cutting reply and asked, "What makes you so sure?"

"Think about it from her mother's perspective. You and your family are surrounded by soldiers whose goal is to escort the maximum amount of survivors as efficiently as possible, they wouldn't risk the safety of the convoy to look for a lost girl. The mother herself won't look because she would have to leave the convoy and therefore forsake any chance of getting to refugee camp with her family." He said dryly, not noticing the glare Jess sent his way, "And judging from the fact that they are in a military convoy in the first place means that they spent all their time in a camp, which means that they are useless at surviving by themselves. Hell, the girl wasn't even armed!"

She was about to reply but then noticed that Alice was getting too far ahead of them, and nervously increased her pace to a brisk jog. "People don't just ditch their kids, Ruskie."

Dimitri watched her trot after Alice and sighed, "People abandon loved ones all the time, Zvesda..."


End file.
